A masterclass from McTominay
On a night of no frayed nerves, United went from whingeing to winning
FIVE ASIDES Premier League: United 3, Burnley 1
For most of this season United have had us on the edge of our seats, and sometimes our sanity. Last night was different: an early goal, soon followed by two more. Even though Burnley struck back straight away, the last 50 minutes were one long anti-climax. It was too efficient to be exciting, but it was what our nerves needed. INFINITE CONTROL, said one of the adverts dancing along the touchline. That’s what Ralf Rangnick is after, and in his fifth game in charge the players came close to delivering it. He’d had a stern word about their attitude, and it showed: the whingebags turned back into professionals. The scoreline may have flattered them, and mildly insulted a Burnley side who showed more enterprise than usual, but it was United’s most fluent display under Rangnick. After two 1-0s and two 1-1s, he has finally broken out of binary.
What formation was this? Not quite the now-customary 4-2-2-2. Rangnick described it as 4-4-2 in defence and 4-2-4 in attack, which is a fancy way of describing a normal 4-4-2, with the wingers shuttling up and down the wings. But it wasn’t quite that either. Nemanja Matic stayed deep, as ever: if you had only Eric Bailly and Harry Maguire behind you, you too might be reluctant to leave the defence unattended. Matic’s self-control allowed Scott McTominay to steam forward into the space left vacant by the suspended Bruno Fernandes. The formation ended up as more of a 4-1-3-2, which makes sense against modest opponents and seems a more natural fit for United’s personnel. It lets in Edinson Cavani without squeezing out Cristiano Ronaldo: this was the second time the two old gents had started together, and as before (against Spurs) the consequence was that United scored three. Cavani was under-used here, taking only 23 touches to Ronaldo’s 46 and getting just one shot, but his tireless running set the tone. It’s also a way of using all those No.10s, though we saw none of them last night, with the mystery of Donny van de Beek growing deeper still. As Rob Smyth said in an email, while writing the minute-by-minute report for The Guardian with his other hand, ‘I'm out of theories with Donny, I really don't understand it.’ If Rangnick doesn’t rate van de Beek, can he please let him go?
McTominay’s performance made you wonder if, in the immortal words of Kate Bush, he had done a deal with God. ‘You can be Frank Lampard, but only for one home game a year.’ As against Leeds in 2020, so against Burnley in 2021, the man they all call Scotty produced a masterly display in midfield and a fusillade of shots. With his goal, he didn’t just nick the ball off Ronaldo, he gave him a masterclass in marksmanship, using an opponent to block the keeper’s view and side-footing calmly into the corner. Ronaldo, who had just missed a sitter, tried to look delighted. He did then produce a finish worthy of his reputation, but only after the bar had been rattled by another crisp strike from McTominay. As good as Fred has been on his better days, you get more creativity from McMatic.
Luke Shaw was back – not just in the team, but in the form he showed last season. He took a leaf from Alex Telles’s book, operating almost as a left-winger with the occasional trot back to help out in defence. He played the long curling ball in the sixth minute that Ronaldo controlled immaculately but couldn’t convert. He set off on a 50-yard dribble that would surely have ended in an assist had he not decided that the best person to finish the move was himself. He did the simple things well too, slipping the ball forward to Jadon Sancho for the second goal. His enterprise seemed to rub off on the other recalled full-back, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who shook off his usual timidity and in one surreal moment joined Shaw on the left wing. At times Shaw even appeared to be telling Sancho what to do. Is he Jose Mourinho in disguise?
So United finish the year in the top six for the 32nd season in a row. The mighty may have fallen, but they’ve landed on a ledge a couple of floors down. Even amid the turmoil of the past few weeks, they’ve taken 14 points from their last six league games, more than Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea. We’ve had a lot of fun (as well as a fair amount of agony) following their fortunes in 2021, and we hope you have too. Happy New Year, thanks for reading, and if you know a Red who might enjoy United Writing, please feel free to forward our email.